Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is a 1957 American satirical comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield and Tony Randall, with Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell, John Williams, Henry Jones, Lili Gentle, and Mickey Hargitay, and with a cameo by Groucho Marx. The film is a satire on popular fan culture, Hollywood hype, and the advertising industry, which was profiting from commercials on the relatively new medium of television. It also takes aim at the reduction television caused to the size of movie theater audiences in the 1950s. The film was known as Oh! For a Man! in the United Kingdom.
Jayne Mansfield was an American actress and Playboy Playmate. A sex symbol of the 1950s and early 1960s, Mansfield was known for her numerous publicity stunts and open personal life. Although her film career was short-lived, she had several box-office successes, and won a Theatre World Award and Golden Globe Award, and soon gained the nickname of Hollywood's "smartest dumb blonde."
Dorothy Malone was an American actress. Her film career began in 1943, and in her early years, she played small roles, mainly in B-movies, with the exception of a supporting role in The Big Sleep (1946). After a decade, she changed her image, particularly after her role in Written on the Wind (1956), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Lizabeth Virginia Scott was an American actress, singer and model for the Walter Thornton Model Agency, known for her "smoky voice" and being "the most beautiful face of film noir during the 1940s and 1950s". After understudying the role of Sabina in the original Broadway and Boston stage productions of The Skin of Our Teeth, she emerged in such films as The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Dead Reckoning (1947), Desert Fury (1947), and Too Late for Tears (1949). Of her 22 films, she was the leading lady in all but three. In addition to stage and radio, she appeared on television from the late 1940s to early 1970s.
The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw is a 1958 Western comedy film directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Kenneth More and Jayne Mansfield. Mansfield's singing voice is dubbed by Connie Francis. It was one of the first Westerns to be shot in Spain.
Bella Darvi was a Polish film actress and stage performer who was active in France and the United States.
Harlow is a 1965 American biographical drama film directed by Gordon Douglas about the life of film star Jean Harlow. It stars Carroll Baker in the title role and Raf Vallone, Red Buttons, Angela Lansbury, Peter Lawford, Mike Connors, Martin Balsam and Leslie Nielsen in supporting roles. Although the film failed commercially, it was successful in launching the hit song "Girl Talk" by Neal Hefti.
Otto Kruger was an American actor, originally a Broadway matinee idol, who established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as Hitchcock's Saboteur. He also appeared in CBS's Perry Mason and other TV series. He was the grandnephew of South African president Paul Kruger.
Promises! Promises! is a 1963 American sex comedy film directed by King Donovan and starring Tommy Noonan and Jayne Mansfield. Released at the end of the Production Code era and before the MPAA film rating system became effective in 1968, it was the first Hollywood film of the sound era to feature nudity by a mainstream star (Mansfield).
It Happened in Athens is a 1962 American sports comedy-drama film released by 20th Century-Fox. It is directed by Andrew Marton and features Jayne Mansfield, newcomer Trax Colton, Maria Xénia, Nico Minardos, Roger Browne in his debut, and Olympic champion Bob Mathias.
The Wayward Bus is a 1957 American drama film directed by Victor Vicas and starring Joan Collins, Jayne Mansfield, Dan Dailey and Rick Jason. Released by 20th Century-Fox, the film was based on the 1947 novel of the same name by John Steinbeck.
The George Raft Story is a 1961 American biographical film directed by Joseph M. Newman that stars Ray Danton as Hollywood film star George Raft. The picture was retitled Spin of a Coin for release in the United Kingdom, a reference to Raft's character's nickel-flipping trick in Scarface (1932), the film that launched his career as an actor known for portraying gangsters.
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? is an original stage comedy in three acts and four scenes by George Axelrod. After a try-out run at the Plymouth Theatre in Boston from 26 September 1955, it opened at the Belasco Theatre on Broadway on 13 October, starring Jayne Mansfield, Walter Matthau and Orson Bean. Directed by the author and produced by Jule Styne, it closed on 3 November 1956 after 444 performances.
Panic Button is a 1964 low-budget Italian-produced comedy film starring, Maurice Chevalier, Eleanor Parker, Jayne Mansfield, and Mike Connors. Filmed in the summer of 1962, in Italy, and released nearly two years later, the film tells the story of how a washed-up actor (Chevalier) and a buxom unknown (Mansfield) are chosen to co-star in a television production of Romeo and Juliet. The picture is known for being one of several foreign films Mansfield was forced to make after her contract was dropped from 20th Century Fox in 1962.
Lili Gentle is a former American film and television actress.
Michael Colton Dixon is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He placed seventh on the eleventh season of American Idol.
Xenia Kalogeropoulou is a Greek actress, who appeared in both Greek and English-speaking films in her career. With her career, spanning six decades, she has appeared in over forty films and television shows.
A sex symbol or icon is a person or character widely considered sexually attractive and often synonymous with sexuality.
Nancy Valentine was an American model and actress, better known for her marriage to an Indian Maharaja than for her modeling or early film roles. She later had more success in American television, performing in over thirty different series.
Patricia Huston was an American stage, film, and television actress. She had a notable acting career from 1958 to 1968, went through a seventeen-year period without any acting work, and resumed her career with several recurring roles on popular shows during the last ten years of her life.
